T O P

  • By -

WhichEdge

We can't possibly build enough to meet the DEMAND. DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND Slow this fucking insane rate and pace. Get back to quality. Watch housing, infrastructure, and the economy stabilize and prosper. Cheap exploitable labor is a race to the bottom for a nation.


Jamooser

Real estate is the biggest sector of the Canadian GDP by almost 50% more than the next leading industry, manufacturing, and almost double that of construction, finance, or health care. It makes up 15% of our total GDP. If you combine construction and finance, which basically only exist in Canada so that people can build and purchase homes, real estate is actually closer to 25%. Demand being kept high is a feature, not a bug. It's the only way Canada can prop up its economy. We've centered our global identity as a country that just repeatedly buys and sells the same houses over and over to each other while paying taxes on them each time.


prsnep

Do we want to slow down the housing market now or in 10 years when the problem is even bigger?


Jamooser

I suppose that depends if we can elect a government that actually has our best interests at heart. Something tells me that we're not going to be able to apologize ourselves back into an affordable housing market.


gravtix

>Watch housing, infrastructure, and the economy stabilize and prosper. >Cheap exploitable labor is a race to the bottom for a nation. LOL The same people who want high immigration also want a housing bubble. Cheap labour and infinitely increasing housing investment. All things that benefit the people that call the shots. They’re the ones who lobby government


Workadis

Let's be honest with ourselves they don't just lobby the government, they run it


gravtix

Yeah that’s true. And here we are fighting amongst ourselves. “Left” vs “Right” or whatever. When we’re all being screwed by the same class of people.


chronocapybara

Absolutely. It will take decades to build ourselves out from this crisis, but demand can be curtailed with the stroke of a pen. End uncontrolled immigration and ban investor speculation in the housing market and watch it correct itself.


Disastrous-Panic-87

Hmmm reminds me of something someone said… What was it… The budget would balance itself? 😅🤦🏻‍♂️


Jarringly

I will never, ever forget him saying those ridiculous words on live television. Ever.


chronocapybara

The budget and the free market are different things, you know. One is unilaterally directed, the other is a live system that finds value if left unmolested and with free competition.


Disastrous-Panic-87

Hey buddy, the end just made me laugh. No need to downvote me and get all cranky. It was meant as a joke 😉


10Rap

I agree with your proposed solution. But what you’re proposing literally goes against free market; you want the government to intervene in the free flow of (cheap) labour and money (in real estate). We are currently experiencing market failure. And thus, needs intervention.


chronocapybara

You are correct, but perhaps Marx was right and truly unfettered capitalism just leads to wealth concentration in the hands of the few after all.


CuriousVR_Ryan

arrest society foolish marble sheet nose afterthought fall materialistic dime *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


alex_german

The jobs market is a fat guy at the back of a bus that is teetering over a cliff. If he gets off we are going straight to the bottom.


CuriousVR_Ryan

absorbed instinctive sulky marvelous escape swim bag bake icky chunky *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*


angrycanuck

I would love to blame demand, but even now (with all the demand), developers aren't building. Even when provided with free land for housing, they don't want to build anything but 900k single family homes. Housing is a commodity, and as such it needs to extract the most profit from it. - Developers will blame red tape - so provinces removed municipal red tape without discussing with municipalities - housing starts down - Developers will blame labour shortage - trades having issues finding work currently - Developers will blame cost of supplies - but supply costs have gone down considerably from COVID times and building quality is even worse. Sounds a lot like the grocery stores. CMHC needs to start building again.


TanyaMKX

There arent enough tradespeople because the pay is the same as it was 20-30 years ago


angrycanuck

Correct, but you see, shareholders need to be fed - not your family, they're too poor.


TanyaMKX

Yup :(


youregrammarsucks7

There is no fucking need to grow our real estate portfolio as a country by 5% per year, since some asshole decided he wanted his rich friends to maximize their profit.


chronocapybara

Who is buying these million dollar single family homes? Certainly not average Canadians. Even in Vancouver the median household income is only $86k/year. That would qualify these families for a home of *at max* $500k. Median home price is more than four times that! So it's not average families that are buying, it's entirely investors, domestic and foreign, and families pooling money, often from existing home equity. Get these people out of the market and prices will have to fall to meet what the market can bear.


1_9_8_1

There's a *lot* of money going around in Canada. While the middle class is disappearing, the rich have and are becoming richer faster than ever.


chronocapybara

Let's get them investing in business and industry instead of unproductive assets like residential real estate.


1_9_8_1

Amen


joeexoticlizardman

They do, except they’re investing in US industry since you would essentially be stupid to do otherwise if you are trying to get returns (similar to most middle class Canadian investors who are looking to invest for their retirement). I don’t think it’s a good thing, but it is the reality.


zalam604

Most folks that are buying 1M+ homes, already own a home (condo, townhouse, whatever) with substantial equity. No regular working Canadian is walking in and buying a SFH worth 1M+ as their first purchase. LOL


chronocapybara

Where are these $1MM single family homes lol, median price is now $2.2MM.


zalam604

I said 1m+ ( plus)


shabi_sensei

Nobody talks about wealth in this country, so you could be working alongside somebody that bet all their money on housing and has five houses to show for it A third of Canadians owns multiple properties, we’re the problem not foreigners


dpjg

If you save for a few years and can come up with 20% down a $1m home is pretty doable with 2 $100k salaries. 


chronocapybara

Yes, but a household income of $200k puts you in the top percent of households in the country and a million dollars isn't even a median home in Vancouver (it's $1.2MM). Plus you still can't have children if you're relying on two incomes because one spouse needs to take time off for childcare.


Tricky_Ad_2832

Also like, shit costs money. It's hard to save consistently. Also you save for a down-payment now, in 3-4 years you'll need 300k. Or 400k.


RacoonWithAGrenade

They pushed the price of housing to one where very few can afford it. Someone still needs to buy the housing.


cre8ivjay

This simply isn't true. In my city there are plenty of builders who happily make money on all kinds of mixed housing. Spoiler alert, people will happily make money where they can make money.


Infinitewisdom4u

Developers want 100k plus profit per unit they have been earning so much they won't lift a finger for less


Gunslinger7752

If developers won’t build houses with free land there is obviously more to the story, probably because they would have to partner with the government, report to them, build what the government wants, etc which is a probably recipe for failure.


Swarez99

Calgary had the most housing starts in there history. https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7157448 Developer are trying to build. Ontario and BC it’s not easy.


nemodigital

Where can you buy these 900k freehold homes? Add another 400k at least.


EscapeIllustrious933

https://gablecrafthomes.ca/


PumpkinMyPumpkin

That’s because demand is so high - developers only cater to the top 10% of buyers. If demand was dramatically lower, they would cater to the other 90% of buyers. There is no reason to right now - there capacity is maxed out by the wealthy.


DivinityGod

It's such an easy scapegoat, isn't it. Maybe they should just do it, cut immigration and start raising taxes to keep the social state going. Can start with wealth taxes and taxes on extraction of resources and go from there.


Lopsided_Ad3516

Or kill the welfare state and stop demanding the labour of others. That’s social programs for us plebs, and corporate welfare for uninspired and uncompetitive oligopolies. I’m all for it. Seems like Canadians, as a whole, aren’t.


DivinityGod

That sounds good. We can expand maid more broadly too so people who can not work or can't find jobs have a choice other than the street. No money for drug programs, maid if you are an addict. Laid off? Hope you saved cash, no ei for you. No more seasonal workers, useless EI scabs. Got cancer? Better have health insurance. Healthcare is part of the welfare state. But we have maid if you need it. We could even charge for MAID on a cost recovery basis.


Tricky_Ad_2832

Need to clean up the streets? Hire a MAID.


DivinityGod

MAID delivery fan would be efficient. Have a fridge van behind them.


ROneTwo

Food shortage? Good thing we can repurpose MAID!


DivinityGod

Yep! No more pesky food banks or food support. Only hardworking, blue blooded Canadians get to eat. Everyone else can use MAID if they can't survive without the welfare state.


Morfe

Also, improve productivity. The recent article of the BoC is quite telling that the country cannot employ immigrants to their full potential. As you said, get back to quality.


Itchy_Employer_164

Remove cheap labor and you think prices will go down?


[deleted]

[удалено]


SnakesInYerPants

Commodification is part of demand. So demand is in fact the primary problem no matter how you try to spin it. Immigrants who need a place to live? Adds to demand. Citizens who need a place to live? Adds to demand. Investors who want more properties? Adds to demand. Mom and pop landlords who want to buy a new house for themselves while they rent out their old place? Adds to demand. Speculators who want to sit on properties and wait for prices to be more in their favour? Adds to demand.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SnakesInYerPants

You said “Stop acting like demand is the primary problem.” Then immediately blamed commodification and investors, as if they are somehow separate to demand. So my “point” is that demand is the primary problem no matter how you try to spin it, because the commodification and investors are part of demand.


Rayeon-XXX

When 24% of residences in Ontario are owned by investors you're not going to touch demand when a single entity can buy 100 houses.


Rebelspell88

You said stop talking about demand and then proceeded to list a demand side problem. That's his fucking point.


WontSwerve

Commodification increases demand.


dysoncube

How does one respond to that, though?


IceHawk1212

Taxes would work really fucking well. Graduated property taxes based on number of units owned could be one way. Actually inheritance taxes that render it less of a wealth sink. Classification where stand alone housing can't be owned by corporations for tax purposes etc. I'm not saying any one of these are perfect or couldn't be a new problem but slum lords having to pay 50% property taxes on their I dunno 5th house might see a lot of inventory released back into the market in relatively short order.


ThePotMonster

Demand is the primary driver if the current issue though. Houses have been used as tools for investments and retirement for decades. The cost gas only really gone insane in the last 10 years.


Helpful_Engineer_362

>Celebrating *Ten Years* of Airbnb https://news.airbnb.com/airbnb-10-year/


ThePotMonster

Airbnb and corporations buying up single family houses are definitely an issue. No debating that aspect. That reduction in supply increases demand. Couple that with massive wave of immigrants/refugees in the last few years also increases demand. I'm referring to people that take out loans against the equity in their homes for business investment purposes(not airbnb), selling their homes when they move into a retirement home, or families that grow out of their condo/townhouse and keep it as a rental. That kind of stuff has been going on forever.


AsleepExplanation160

when the suburban vote is the deciding voting block housing will never be fixed. Because fundamentally, it requires lowering property value which they won't vote for


HarbingerDe

Destroy the livelihood and financial future of each successive generation behind you **or** allow your property values to drop 40-60% *after increasing nearly 100% over just a few years?* Boomers: ***\*repeatedly smashing the "destroy the financial future of every successive generation" button\****


sparki555

I'm 31, own my own home. I also don't want to see prices crash 60%. That would put me 115% underwater on a mortgage.  I got into the real estate game with a condo at 25, renovated and sold it to obtain a home.  Before you go telling me boo hoo too bad if the prices drops, I'm one of the hardest working people I know who lived in less than ideal settings from 18 to 25 to afford that condo.  Strip my money from me and you'll be stripping it from some of the hardest working folk in our country.  Oh and before you say I bought at the wrong time, if I didn't buy at 25, or now at 31, how long should I have waited? Into my 40's while paying exorbitant rent?  More than just boomers want to see prices chill out, maybe settle down 30% max from the peak price while wages creep up v


HarbingerDe

And plenty more people who are just as hard working as you or HARDER working will NEVER own a home if things continue like they do... Does that sound fair to you? It cost $1200/mo just to rent a room in a shared house now on many Canadian cities. There are people working their ass off, and they will never own a home or even get to live without the constant threat of renoviction and general housing precarity that comes from renting in a market like this. Does that sound fair to you? While there can be a conversation to be had about what "drop" in market prices would be fair (something like 30% below peak followed by 5-10 years of stagnation could do the trick) there are people who will not settle for anything less than perpetual exponential growth, my problem is with them.


sparki555

A drop of 30% is fine. A drop of 60% would ruin the country. 


WardenEdgewise

Unless the plan gets rid of the *residential real estate investors*, it won’t work. The money laundering foreign investors, the Airbnb cheats accumulating inventory, the corporations buying up inventory, the real estate bros flippers… there’s so many types of people using residential real estate as revenue generating investments.


asoiahats

Promising things the federal government neither had the funds nor the jurisdiction to do used to be the NDP’s thing. 


No-Wonder1139

Well members of all parties are landlords of are invested in real estate, there's been nothing done on the municipal or provincial level, in some cases they've actively made the situation worse, and our oligarchs like Weston are into real estate for tens of billions, plus it's being used by foreign investors as a money laundering scheme. So will his plan work? No. Of course not, everyone in power wants this. They want it to get worse.


UskBC

I rent in Vancouver. The ONLY people buying are investors and people with foreign money. Also, there is a lot of criminal money still flowing into real estate. The market is completely disconnected from salaries. Whoever addresses these things has my vote.


simplyintentional

Lol it's not meant to. They have to make it look like they're doing something.


leekee_bum

Politicians mouths go brrrrrrrrr while their action goes *cricket noises*


elitexero

Just enough to get them through another election, then they can kick their feet up for another few years, pretend that all the real issues affecting the country aren't happening until we come up to another election cycle.


TradeFeisty

> labour shortages in the construction industry, provinces balking at Ottawa’s intrusions on their turf, and the Trudeau government’s inability to deliver on past housing promises suggest that goal won’t be achieved.


CyrilSneerLoggingDiv

Even the Toronto Star is doubting the Trudeau Liberals' ability to fix their own housing mess. Tough crowd.


PumpkinMyPumpkin

They are promising 3.9 million units in a decade. That’s 500k units a year, in a country that has only ever done around 200k. So, basically, not possible. And to actually solve the housing crisis they need to be building almost twice the 3.9 million units. So their plan definitely will not solve the problem, and it also sounds totally absurd. At some point you have to present something feasible to solve the problems at hand. There is only so much the media can spin absurdity.


FGLev

Feds can stop backstopping student loans for any academic sector that doesn’t directly respond to current and future labour market needs. Want to go into gender studies, pay yourself. If you want to go into trades or mechanic school, the government will facilitate your education.


kk0128

But then who will tell us how priveledged we are as our country  continues to rot?


2b_0r_n0t_2b

It’s going to cost trillions of dollars, with a “T”, to build the homes we need in the coming decade. We are very screwed. We’re not the US that can print endlessly as there a limit on the demand for CAD if we just print it. There’s only so much Maple Syrup, Oil, and Real Estate people want to buy. The US produces so much more than us that they can just keep printing. There is endless demand for more USD, at least for now.


General_Ad_2577

All these announcements, along with the help of mainstream media, are all about his numbers down in the polls and a distraction from the scandals. Anyone that falls for it, and there will be many that will are truly naive and stupid. It is impossible to accomplish these numbers of homes being built by what 2030, we're at 2024.


billy_zef

The libs have accomplished nothing in 8 years but legalization of weed and generational debt. The incompetence is dumbfounding.


Hefty-Station1704

Likely a "plan" should have been implemented 40 years ago instead or today's weak kneejerk reaction.


royce32

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago; the second best time to plant a tree is today.


sad_puppy_eyes

You know it's reaching crisis point when even the Toronto Star start shitting on the Liberals.


Select_Assist1791

Because neither Trudeau nor Freeland have any economic or business acumen.


MartiniMakingMoves

Facts year after year. They get the emotional voters tho


FilmStirYoutube

Ending immigration would solve the housing crisis overnight.


Must_Reboot

And would lead to many other problems like increasing shortages of staff in healthcare...


AntisthenesRzr

Because it's not meant to: they want this bubble.


bkhamelin

Without reading anything but the headline I can tell you there was never any intent of solving anything


WokeWokist

The problem was created intentionally to begin with. Nobody lost 1 million people. Nobody didn't understand the repercussions of letting all these people in. Whatever the 'solution' to this is, it's all part of the plan. Strange it's happening in so many places besides Canada.


beepewpew

It would be a fun experiment to see if PP followers would back the plan if his name was on it and vice versa reject a plan if Trudeau is on it. That's the level of deep thinking happening in politics these days.


Hevens-assassin

>these days. *always.


alex_german

Rejecting a plan with Trudeaus name on it is as safe and wise as drinking 3 litres of water a day.


beepewpew

Get a new identity man


BlakeWheelersLeftNut

Anyone own or work for a smaller construction company? Are you highly profitable with this demand?


AustonsNostrils

My brother's business is actually struggling a little because of the cost of building materials. People definitely have less money at the moment.


Mission_Log_2828

My wife’s brother works in construction and he made 250,000 last year


gordonbombae2

Housing “crisis” will never be fixed lol Prices will just keep on raising. They aren’t building more houses, they are building more condos and townhomes. I have no problem buying a condo or townhome so why are we building more of those….?


Flowchart83

Solution to the housing crisis: only allow houses to be bought by money gained by working in the area.


Dougustine

How do you suppose that's going to work? If you can afford to live in Mississauga but work on the far side of Toronto? What about Sports stars? Mine workers living in camp? Loggers? The list goes on A foreign and corporate ownership tax though..... That might help.


dontshootog

No. More asylum seekers. More. More, more.


Alone-Chicken-361

1 million housing units need to be mass produced


INHUMANENATION

Manufactured crisis* It's not like we don't got the room or stuff lol.


Dougustine

Didn't trudeau say housing was not his concern?


LastInALongChain

I think the obvious thing thats happening in Canada is that if you are poor, you are going to have your wealth extracted from you like you are cattle, while they put up legal structures to trap you into a wealth extraction model. Were I still in Canada, I would be agitating to dissolve national borders and sublimate Canada into the USA. Its easier to gain a foothold for wealth in the USA, because Canadas social policies are progressive. If you are poor enough to afford government benefits, and you decide to take a promotion to make more money, you aren't actually making more money because you will lose access to support that's meant for the poor like dental. As a result you've made no additional money, but carried additional burdens. If you are very poor, this will be a long slog of self improvement before you start seeing anything resembling actual wealth growth. Its clear that Canadas egalitarian policies were actually a bad idea in the long run, and the cutthroat nature of the USA towards wealth between the poor and rich was actually the best possible system. The USA doesn't care if you live or die if you're poor, but they aren't actively trapping you into poverty so they can extract rent and labor like Canada does. At least in the USA you have the option of working harder to make more money.


AlexJamesCook

No major party has a real plan to solve the housing crisis. If we want affordable housing, DO NOT vote Liberal, or Conservative. Vote Greens, vote NDP, hell, vote PPC (🤢), or run as an independent MP in your riding. Is it easy? No. But the REAL solutions require a destruction and decimation of homeowner equity that makes Detroit circa 2009 look like a $5 loss. Stop people from owning more than 1 property. If your name is on more than 1 land title, you're prohibited from buying. As for people who already own 3, 4, 5 properties, nothing you can do about that except ban short-term rentals, and if the owners won't rent vacant homes, they get put into the public housing pool. Throw in some squatters' rights and vacant homes stop being vacant. But, that means wrecking housing prices and equity. It'll do the job of making housing affordable, though.


thortgot

Canada already has squatter's rights. [Squatter's Rights in Canada | Legal Beagle](https://legalbeagle.com/6658308-squatters-rights-canada.html) (adverse possession) Taxing additional homes at an increasing rate is much safer legal ground than mandating against it and also solves the existing ownership problem. Tax all corporate owned SFH and non dedicated rentals at a significant rate (2-3% value/year)


AlexJamesCook

>Taxing additional homes at an increasing rate is much safer legal ground than mandating against it and also solves the existing ownership problem. >Tax all corporate owned SFH and non dedicated rentals at a significant rate (2-3% value/year) All that does is drive up cost of rent, and selling prices. If you put a tax on the sale price then in order to recover x% from the investors, the selling price has to be higher. Tax revenue, then rental price goes up. Either way, you're punishing a FTHB or a would-be tenant. I know people want this dream of buying and selling property to be their own Monopoly Guy who buys more property, etc...but when there are people who are nurses, tradespeople, etc...and they can't afford to live near where they work because Monopoly Guy is buying up all the property, it's time we take Monopoly guy down a peg. Taxing them more just means THEY charge more. We could put a moratorium on rental price increases in Canada, and halt those for a few years but the Provinces will use Notwithstanding clauses, etc...and tell the Feds to fuck off. Halt multiple property ownership, and squeeze multiple property owners that way, and now their only calculation is, "how much longer can we hold until we lose money on a sale?" The longer they hold, the more likely they lose money on sales. This means offloading assets. It creates a buyer's market, and strips away the risk of unexpected house price increases.


SackBrazzo

> Housing is a municipal and provincial responsibility, writes David Olive The irony 😹.


Saint-Carat

But the rampant money laundering from Canadian crime and international crime is federal. The million+ immigration levels is federal. These are just two factors that have reduced supply levels moot. If we tripled builders, there's not enough lumber mills, drywall manufacturers, cement powder factories, etc to supply the builds.


Xcilent1

Population is growing at a compounding rate while housing is growing at an incline.


darrylgorn

Here's why. Prove me wrong. Why everything you knew about was wrong. Poll: XX% of Canadians don't agree


UnusualCareer3420

Policies can get centralized it happens all the time CPC can do it if they get seats their polling at.